Apparatus for arranging and counting votes



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.1.913. GR'RIE'R. APPARATUS POR ARRANG-INGAND GOUNTING VOTES. No` 469,039. Patented Peb. 16, 1892.

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Patented Feb. 16, 1892.

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J. B. GURRIER. APPARATUS FOR ARRANGINGAND UOUNTING VOTES. I t N0. 469,039. Patented Peb; 16.. l1892,

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J. B. GURRIER.

APPARATUS FOR ARRANGING AND GOUNTING VOTES,

No. 469,039. Paten'tedeb. 16, 1892.

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JACOB B. OURRIER, ,OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR ARRANGING AND COUNTING VOTES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 469,039,6.ated February 16, 1892.

To LZZ whom it mag/'concern' 43e it known that I, JACOB B. CURRIER, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Arranging and Counting Votes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to mechanism for arranging ballots preparatory to counting` the votes with what is known as the Australian system of ballots; and it consists in new and useful improvements in such apparatus, whereby the ballots maybe arranged rapidly and certainly according tomy system of printing and arranging such ballots contained in my application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 339,035, filed February 3, 1890, all substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the use of the Australian system of ballots the voter makes an X-Inark in a reserved space at the right-hand end of the line containing the name of the candidate to be voted for. By my system, as disclosed in said former application, the ballots were so printed that when opened they formed two inside pages opposite to orsucceeding each other in ordinary book form, having at the right-hand end of the line on each page precisely the same breadth of space for the X-lnark and the same margin, if any, to the right of that. The ballots were then 11e-folded backward, so as to bring the two pages on the outside of the ballot, the re-folding line being precisely the same as the line of the first folding, which concealed the faces of the ballot containing the names of the candidates when they Were first folded to be voted. It has been found expedient to have assistants or clerks prepare the ballots in packages ready to be counted by the sworn officials who are to perform that duty, so that they may count the votes on the ballots more rapidly and certainly. The importance of having assistants do this work is evident when it is understood that a reasonable number of sworn enumerators of the ballots are unable to count the votes on them as fast as a precinct of fifteen hundred voters will cast them unless some such method of asserting them in packages can be adopted and economically practiced. It is further found to be desirable in asserting the ballots into packages that the clerks or assistants Application filed J une 6, 1891. Serial No. 395,376. (No model.)

shall have some mechanical devices to expedite their work with my improved form of ballots, and these mechanical devices are the subject of this application.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a board and clamp in face view on which the ballots are shown to be assembled in packages by the clerk or assistant preparatory to the votes being counted by the sworn enumerators. Fig. 2 represents a face view of the assembling-board, with the clamp removed. Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section of part of the board on the line z z of Fig. 2.4 Fig. 4 is an enlarged transverse section of part of the board on line o: :c of Figs. land 2. Fig. 5 is a rear View of the clamp andthe ballots in it when removed from the board. Fig. Gis an edge view of a portion of the clamp removed from the board and opened ready to receive the ballots. Fig. 7 is an end View of the same. l with the clamp closed. Fig. 9 is an end View of the same. Fig. lO'is an enlarged view of a portion of Fig. 8 with the turn-button attached, which locks the clamp. Fig. 1l is a top plan View of the same.

A is an assembling-board made of any suitable material, but wood is preferable. This board has sunk into its surface along its top edge a slot or groove a of the proper size to receive the clamp which is to hold the ballots. Extending transversely inward and at a substantially right angle to this slot a are a series of grooves a2 d2 cut in the surface of the board. These grooves are made beveled downward on one side and with a straght vertical Wall on the other side, and their function is to guide the assembling of the ballots on the board in packages in the clamp. The distance apart of the vertical sides of the slot a2 is exactly equal to the width of the edge of the ballot containing the X-marks of the voters, which is to be left exposedin the package, as shown in Figs. l and 5, in order that the votes may be counted by the sworn enumerators. IVhen, therefore, the ballots are successively brought against the vertical edges of the slots a2, with their upper edges extending within the open jaws of the clamp, hereinafter described, the ballots being laid one over the other, the proper exposure of the edge of each ballot in the packagewill Fig. S is an edge View of Fig. 6'

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be automatically made by the guiding vertical edge of the groove a2, in which the succeeding ballot is laid to make up thepackage. 2 The names of candidates and designations ot' them printed upon each ballot are precisely the same as those of every other ballot, and arranged in precisely the same space and order on the pages B B2 B4 B5, representing five ballots placed together by the assistant in the form of a package. In placing these ballots on the assembling-board A the first ballot B5 is laid upon the board with its upper end in the open jaws C and c of the clamp C and having its left-hand edge bearing against the vertical wall of the right-hand slot a2 in the board. This trues the ballot on the board and in the clamp, and'does it with great exactness, because the guiding vertical wall of the slot a2 bears upon the long edge of the ballot, and the operator has only to lpress that edge of the ballot into the slot-and against the vertical wall, which is quickly done. the firstone and brought to place by pressin g its left-hand edge against the vertical wall of the next slot a2, and so on successively, until the last ballot B is reached, which forms the upper one of the package as made up on the board. The hinged jaw c of the clamp, which is supported upon its body bythe hinges c2, is then closed down over the upper end of the ballots in the package and the turn-buttons c3 are swung over it, clamping the ballots firmly in the package as arranged on the board. These turu-buttons c3 are set at such a pitch th at they biteror press harder on the movable jaw c of the clamp as they are swung further over it, and theyxwill thus, by turning them farther orless, hold a package of ballots, varying from two to ten,with equal iirmness in the clamp. The effect of thisarran gement is that when the clamp is removed from the board A, as shown in Fig. 5, the full face of the ballot B5 on the opposite side will be exposed and the corresponding X-marksof all the other ballots B B2 B3 B4, so that by this single operation of assembling the ballots into the packages the votes for two sets of officers on the opposite pages of the ballot are exposed vready for counting, one set on the exposed face, as shown in Fig. 1, and the other set on the exposed face, as shown in Fig. 5.

In counting the votes, the sworn enumerator merely reads the name of the candidate on-- the face of the fully-exposed ballot and The next ballot Bl islaid on runs his eye along the same horizontal line on that and the exposed X-inarked edges of all the other ballots and counts up the number of X-marks on that line opposite the name of the candidate, which indicate the number of votes cast for him. By these appliances the sworn ennmerators are saved the trouble of turning over and looking at the full face of each ballot to determine the number of votes on it for the several candidates, and one assistant and one sworn enumerator can perform the work of several enumerators by that other method, and by my method there is far less opportunity for making'mistakes in enumerating the votes for each candidate than by the ordinary method.

It will be evident that by this apparatus ballots may be assembled and counted which are printed'upon only one face or page with a proper exposed margin for the X-mark, substantially, for instance, as shown in the ballot in Fig. l; but usually the number of candidates at an election requires the use of two pages of the ballot.

IVhat I claim as new and ol my invention 1sl. The assembling-board A, provided with the slot a near one edge and the series ot transverse vgrooves a2 a2, arranged at equal distances apart and having one wall vertical and the other wall and botton inclined from the surface of the board downward to meet the vertical'wall, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the board A, provided with the slot a near one edge andthe series of 'transversev grooves a2 a2, arranged at equal distances apart and having one wall vert-ical andthe other wall and bottom inclined from the surface of the board downward to meet the vertical wall, and the clamp C, arranged to fit into the slot a and provided with jawsadapted to receive the ends of the ballots as they are brought to place in it by means of the slots a2, substantially as described.

3. The clampl C, provided with a fixed jaw and a hinged jaw, in combination with the turn-buttons c3,.having their axes turned or pitched so as to bind the hinged jaw closer to its opposite jaw as they are turned farther over it, substantiallyas described.

JACOB B. CURRIER.

Witnesses:

GEORGE W. PooRn, N. P. OckINGToN.

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